Abandonware DOS title

Games featuring PvP multiplayer mode

Of all the multiplayer modes available for a game, PvP (Player VS Player) is one of the most appreciated. The thrill of competing in some way against a human opponent is something that changes the way you're playing and is often completely different than fighting a computer opponent. In fact, the first games in history lacked a computer opponent (it needed more resources, more code, etc.), there was PvP before everything else.

Most popular PvP (player VS player) games

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18th Airborne

DOS1993
18th Airborne is what happens when a military recruitment pamphlet and a tactical shooter have a baby. You’re thrown into the boots of a paratrooper with a mission, a gun, and maybe a vague idea of what’s going on. The graphics are vintage DOS, which means everything looks like it was drawn with crayons under enemy fire. Missions involv...
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4-D Sports boxing

DOS1991 Distinctive Software
Welcome to the squared circle of wireframe pain. Released in 1991 for DOS, this game puts you in the gloves of a boxer rendered entirely out of jagged geometry. The animation was revolutionary at the time, even if it now resembles two mannequins fighting in zero gravity. Customizable fighters and a career mode add a surprising level of depth, but l...
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4Play

Windows XP/98/95Windows 3.x1995NSFW
4Play was a risqué trivia and multi-player board-style game released in the mid-1990s. Designed as a party game, it combined trivia questions, mini-games, and challenges that often leaned toward suggestive or adult themes. It was intended to be played in social settings, often among friends or couples, with the goal of breaking the...
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4th & Inches

DOS1988protected Accolade
Before Madden became a household name, 1988 gave us this DOS football classic, where plays are drawn like cave paintings and players move like molasses in January. Yet, for its time, this was the real deal. You could call plays, manage your team, and fumble in low-res glory. The sound effects are a symphony of beeps and buzzes, but there's genuine ...
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7 colors

DOS1991 Gamos
7 Colors is one of those puzzle games that sounds simple on paper but ends up consuming your entire afternoon before you even realize it. Released in 1991 for DOS, it throws you into a digital turf war where the weapon of choice is… color. You pick a hue, spread it across the board like a rapidly multiplying fungus, and try to outmaneuver yo...
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Advantage Tennis

DOS1991 Infogrames
Ah, Advantage Tennis—where the graphics are flat, the physics are questionable, and the grunts are blessedly absent. This DOS-era sports sim serves up matches that somehow feel like both a relaxing afternoon and a fierce Wimbledon final. Timing your shots is half the game; the other half is praying your opponent glitches into the net. A charm...
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Age of Empires

Windows XP/98/951997protecteddemo Ensemble Studios
Released in 1997, Age of Empires is what happens when ancient history gets drunk and decides to party. You start in the Stone Age, bashing wild boars and clubbing trees, and before you know it, you’re building temples and flinging catapults. It’s like a time-traveling arms race with priests yelling "Wololo" as your units randomly switch...
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Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings

Windows XP/98/951999protecteddemo Ensemble Studios
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a landmark real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999, it is the second installment in the Age of Empires series and remains one of the most influential RTS games of all time. The game is set in the medieval period, and it builds upon the gameplay m...
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Amok

DOS1996 Scavenger
Ever wanted to pilot a walking death machine through a series of exploding industrial hellscapes while being shot at from every angle? Welcome to Amok. This 1996 mech-shooter is a glorious mess of 3D environments, big explosions, and gameplay that occasionally forgets it needs to be fun. You stomp around in your mech like a robot with arthritis, bl...
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Aquanox

Windows XP/98/952001protected Massive Development
Dive into Aquanox (2001), where post-apocalyptic submarines battle it out beneath the ocean in a world that’s half Waterworld, half neon rave. With moody lighting and dialogue that screams “we’re trying to be deep,” it’s a game that takes itself very seriously while you zip around in your bubble-shooting doomfish. It's...
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Arcade Pool

DOS1994 Team 17
Arcade Pool (1994) is like playing a game of billiards in your best friend’s basement—if your best friend happened to be a DOS machine with a serious competitive streak. It’s shockingly addictive, with physics that almost make sense and enough charm to make you forget you’re alone, playing pool against a smug AI who always s...
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Arcade Volleyball

DOS1987
In Arcade Volleyball (1987), two pixelated figures smack a ball over a net with all the grace of caffeinated stick figures. It's simple, it's bizarre, and it somehow manages to be insanely fun—especially when your opponent spikes the ball right into your square little face. Physics? Optional. Strategy? Laughable. Fun? Absolutely.
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Archon Ultra

DOS1994protected Free Fall Associates
Archon Ultra is what happens when you smash chess into an arcade cabinet and call it a day. This updated version of the original Archon throws in jazzed-up graphics and faster gameplay, but keeps the core idea: when pieces meet, they fight. Literally. On a battlefield. Think Wizard’s Chess, but instead of CGI knights, you’ve got pixelat...
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Archon: the Light and the Dark

DOS1984 Free Fall Associates
Before Battle Chess, there was Archon. Imagine a board game where pawns and knights settle disputes not with rules, but with full-on gladiatorial combat. Archon gives you light versus dark, spellcasters versus golems, and battles that feel like Pong with grudges. It's chess, but spicy. Despite the primitive graphics, it’s shockingly addictive...
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Army Men

Windows XP/98/951998 The 3DO Company
Army Men lets you live out your childhood fantasy of plastic soldier warfare without the hassle of crawling under the couch. You control Sarge, a green-tinted war machine with a stiff upper lip and an affinity for melting tan enemies into goo. It's part RTS, part shooter, and 100% nostalgia. The terrain’s made of sandboxes and kitchen floors,...
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Army Men 2

Windows XP/98/951998protected The 3DO Company
Army Men 2 doubles down on everything from the first game - more weapons, more plastic carnage, more trips to “The Real World” where you fight in bathtubs and backyards. It’s like Toy Story if Buzz Lightyear carried an M-16. The controls are clunky, the pathfinding a war crime, and the camera makes sure you never quite know what&r...
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Austerlitz

DOS1989protected Tactical Design Group
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Austerlitz 1805

DOS1989 Cornerstone Software
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Ballistix

DOS1989 Reflections Interactive
Ballistix asks: “What if air hockey was controlled by futuristic cannons?” The answer: chaos. You frantically shoot pucks with directional blasts while the physics engine does whatever it wants. It’s fast, it’s bizarre, and it kind of feels like trying to herd cats with a leaf blower. Multiplayer is where it shines — a...
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Bang! Bang!

Windows 3.x1990
Before Worms made artillery games cute, Bang! Bang! let you and a friend lob cartoonish shells at each other using nothing but angles, wind speed, and pure spite. It's a math lesson disguised as a duel, and surprisingly addictive. Also, that sinking feeling when your shot lands just short? Timeless.
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Basket Master

DOS1990 Dinamic Multimedia
What happens when a basketball game forgets about realism and goes full cartoon? Basket Master (1990), that’s what. This Spanish-developed DOS gem pits two oddly animated ballers in a 1-on-1 contest where the laws of physics are more suggestions than rules. Dribble? Nah. Dunk from half court? Absolutely. It's goofy, clunky, and strangely addi...
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Batalia

DOS1986 The Right Brothers
Batalia (1986) is what happens when war games and spreadsheet programs fall in love. This early DOS strategy title throws you into tactical battles with graphics that would struggle to impress a calculator. But don’t be fooled—it’s deeper than it looks. Planning, resource management, and an iron will are essential. It's not pretty...
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Battle Arena Toshinden

DOS1996 Tamsoft Corporation
Battle Arena Toshinden was the first game in the Toshinden series and was originally released for the Sony PlayStation in 1995 and later for DOS. Battle Arena Toshinden introduced 3D graphics to the fighting game genre, allowing characters to move in a three-dimensional space.The game featured a diverse roster of eight playable characters, eac...
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Battle Chess

DOS1988protected Interplay Productions
You’ve never really lived until you’ve watched a rook pick up a pawn and slam dunk it into the floor. Battle Chess (1988) turns the world’s most intellectual board game into a medieval cage match. The pieces don’t just move; they duel, they decapitate, they turn into dragons. Sure, the AI might still wipe the floor with you,...
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Battle Chess 2: Chinese Chess

DOS1990protected Interplay Productions
In Battle Chess 2: Chinese Chess (1990), the classic formula gets an eastern makeover—complete with new rules, a new board, and a fresh batch of animated fatalities. If you thought regular chess was confusing, welcome to xiangqi. The game keeps the over-the-top duels but swaps knights for elephants and bishops for cannons. Don’t worry t...
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Battle Chess 4000

DOS1992protected Interplay Productions
Set in the far-off future of 1992, Battle Chess 4000 brings space-age flair to intergalactic checkmate. Now your queen is a laser-wielding dominatrix and your pawns might be robots with trust issues. It’s chess... with ray guns. Honestly, it feels like someone spiked Kasparov’s orange juice with pure sci-fi nonsense. Strategy still matt...
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Battle Isle 2200

DOS1994protected Blue Byte Software
With Battle Isle 2200 (1994), the series goes full 3D cinematic—with cutscenes so dramatic you’d think they were auditioning for a soap opera in space. The gameplay is classic hex strategy, but now with upgraded visuals and FMV actors who clearly missed their calling in daytime TV. It’s grand, slow-burning, and surprisingly tense....
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BC Racers

DOS1995freeware Core Design
Ever wondered what The Flintstones would look like if they got into illegal street racing? BC Racers is exactly that, with stone-age muscle cars, power-ups that make zero sense, and a physics engine that might have been designed by a particularly imaginative caveman. You’ll race against a cast of prehistoric weirdos while using clubs and fist...
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Big Red Racing

DOS1995 The Big Red Software Company
Big Red Racing is what happens when you combine arcade mayhem with zero regard for realism and lots of British sarcasm. Drive everything from dump trucks to hovercrafts, insult your friends, and laugh your way to the finish line. It’s loud, chaotic, and gloriously dumb — and that’s exactly why it’s amazing. Expect physics to...
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Billy The Kid

DOS1990 Level 9 Computing
Saddle up, pardner. Billy The Kid puts you in the dusty boots of the infamous outlaw himself. This is the Wild West, DOS-style — pixel pistols, wanted posters, and dialogue that might make a cactus wince. Whether you’re shootin’ varmints or causin’ a ruckus, justice is whatever you can code in QBasic.